The UCT Graduate School of Business in association with Nedbank and PricewaterhouseCoopers is proud to present:

“Socrates and the Fox: A strategic dialogue”

Presented by Authors Chantell Ilbury and Clem Sunter

Chantell Ilbury and Clem Sunter have developed a unique and independently crafted methodology which integrates scenario planning into the mainstream process of strategic planning and decision-making. Their version of the Socratic method has come about through rigorous application, re-evaluation and fine-tuning in the course of facilitating countless sessions with a diverse portfolio of companies throughout the world - from giant multinationals to family-run businesses. The seeds of their best-selling "The Mind of a Fox" - Scenario Planning in Action (published in June 2001, now in its 20th impression with more than 60 000 copies sold), lay in the foxy dialogue that took place 2 400 years previously between "Socrates and the Fox."

Their finely honed model for strategic conversation was the subject of their second book: "Games Foxes Play" - Planning for Extraordinary Times, published in April 2005, of which some 15 000 copies have been sold to date. Again a vein of Socratic dialogue ran through the book in that a methodology of questioning and self-examination was presented to help companies arrive at a more lucid understanding of their strategic choices. That vein of self-interrogation is now at the heart of this book, "Socrates and the Fox." Once people have been introduced to this methodology, the quality of their enquiry and the level of thinking about their future are permanently elevated to a new level.

Speaker profile

Clem Sunter:

Clem Sunter was born in Suffolk, England and was educated at Winchester College. He went to Oxford where he read Politics, Philosophy and Economics. He is now Chairman of the Anglo American Chairman's Fund, which in a recent survey was rated the premier corporate social responsibility fund in South Africa.

In the early 1980s, he established a scenario planning function in Anglo with teams in London and Johannesburg. He put together a presentation entitled “The World and South Africa in the 1990s” which became very popular in South Africa in the mid-1980s. In it, two scenarios were offered for South Africa: the ‘High Road' of negotiation leading to a political settlement and the ‘Low Road' of confrontation leading to a civil war and a wasteland. South Africa took the High Road. Two highlights for Clem were a presentation to FW de Klerk and the Cabinet in 1986 and a visit to Nelson Mandela in prison to discuss the future just before his release.

Since 1987, he has authored 13 books some of which have been bestsellers. His other main interest is seeking to mobilise the private sector in the war against HIV/AIDS.

He was recently awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Cape Town for his work in the field of scenario planning. He was also voted by leading South African CEOs as the speaker who made the most significant contribution to, and impact on, best practice and business in South Africa in 2004.

Chantell Ilbury:

Chantell Ilbury is one of South Africa's leading strategists and facilitators, working both locally and internationally. She has addressed audiences as far afield as England, Ireland, the Netherlands, Austria, Italy, Kuwait, Jamaica, Jamaica, Jersey and the Isle of Man, as well as throughout Southern Africa.

Chantell, born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe completed her BSc in Chemistry and a postgraduate Higher Diploma in Education at the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg. She has since completed an Executive MBA from the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business and has also studied Strategic Negotiation at Harvard Business School in Boston.

It was while Chantell was at UCT Graduate School of Business in 2000 that she first met Clem Sunter. They shared their ideas on scenario planning that led to the writing of their best-selling book "The Mind of a Fox." Their second book, "Games Foxes Play," was launched in April 2005.

Venue

Date: 19 May 2008
Location: Nedbank Auditorium, Ground Floor, 90 Ordnance Rd, Kingsmead, Durban
Cost: No cost
More info: Registration: 17h30
Starting time: 18h00

Contact: Phyllis Jordan
Company name: UCT Graduate School of Business
Telephone number: 021 4061366
Email address events@gsb.uct.ac.za

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